FILTER MEDIA- say whaaaaaaat?

[Sherriff]

Rather excited as I'm 2 days away from having my 110gal/410l tank arriving!!!
Never before have I had a filter which is in trays which you fill with your own media so, the question is what media do you suggest?

Also any additions to the stocking of my tank would be appreciated! So far in there for sure are;
Neon tetra 20-30
Zebra danio 12-20
Angel fish 1 (not sure whether to up this to say 8?)

-needing some kind of loach for the snails which I always end up with -_-

I would love to hear your opinions and personal experiences to help me along the way!
Thankyou!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Congrats to you! That's a lot of tank.

That's a pretty light stocking list for a 110G tank. That's just your starter list?

I assume you're running a ~4-5 stage canister filter? 4-5 trays in it?

 

[Sherriff]

Yeah, that's my initial stocklist just never had that much tank to utilize and I'm looking for some idea's!
Yeah it has 4 trays, never had one of these either!

 

[metsrangersfan15]

i like having sponge in the bottom tray, carbon in the tray above that, sometype of biological media in the second tray, and at the top another sponge (maybe a finer sponge)

 

[FreshyFresh]

I've even seen some threads where people use those multi-color plastic pot scrubbies is the bottom tray, then sponge, then bio media (ceramic rings, balls, etc), then a floss pad.

 

[Thyra]

This may not be what you are talking about at all for the filter - but I have noticed that the sponges being sold for kitchen use have a label that states, "Not for aquariums."

 

[exhumed07]

i buy soap free scrubby sponges from dollar general for cleaning my tank. and as for the canister filter i know nothing about them so can't help u there. but for stocking, are u planning to plant the tank? if so how dense? that will also determin what to put in the tank. for snail control there are a couple things u can do. clown or kuuli loaches are great for them. also tetra algae control. has a warning right on the bottle not to use it with inverts. one bottle will treat 1200 gallons. i will put my plants in a 5 gallon bucket of water treated with this stuff for a day or 2 to kill off any hitch hikers. i got the pond snails, rams horn, and nirite snails. i'll stick to them. don't want any of the trumpet snails.

 

[Sherriff]

Thankyou all for your responses its gave me something to think about, anyone tell me why they use a specific media? ie the bioballs, carbon etc.

As for the tank, it will be lightly planted so to provide a little shrubbery for my tetra as they LOVE swimming around my plants in my current tank! (though i do only have 12 of them atm)
exhumed07 I have had clown loaches in the past in my current tank however they seem to just die after a month or so... don't really want this happening again do you have any suggestions as to why this is happening?

Any idea's of the stocking now guys? What fishies would make a good impact on my tank!?

 

[exhumed07]

I'm not realy to sure as to y the clown loaches died. i've never had them myself. I'm just going by what i've always heard or read about them. as for stocking that is a hell of a tank to stock. I've only had up to 55 gallons and those at times were hard to figure out how to stock lol. I would suggest looking at other peoples signature to get general ideas and then upscale it.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Thankyou all for your responses its gave me something to think about, anyone tell me why they use a specific media? ie the bioballs, carbon etc.

Aquarium filtration generally has 3 types of media:

1) Mechanical, which typically is floss, sponge or a pre-fab'd filter cartridge. It's job is to trap particulate matter.

2) Chemical, which is typically carbon. All carbon has the ability to do is help remove odors, cloudiness and chemicals from your water. It's said that it doesn't last long and needs to be changed often. Many people don't bother with carbon and feel it's really not needed.

3) Biological, which can be sponge, balls, rings, gravel, plastic grids, etc.. This is typically the last stage of your filtration and placed in the cleanest part of your filter. All this is, is surface area for beneficial bacteria to attach to and grow on. This part of the filter houses the bacteria that processes ammonia and nitrites in the water.

FWIW, I learned pretty much all this stuff right here!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Sherriff, I'll be in the same boat in a week or so. I mail-ordered a Sunsun 302 canister filter yesterday. Only difference is, it's a 3-stage (3 trays). I'm not sure yet how I'll set the trays up. We'll see once I get my 55gal setup.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Sherriff, in case you're still reading this, I set my 3-tray canister filter up this way:

Bottom tray: A thick coarse sponge with a filter pad on top.

Middle tray: Filled it with polyester filter floss and tossed the mesh bag of carbon on it (that came with the filter).

Top tray: A filter pad topped with plastic bio-balls and ceramic rings.

Keep your bio media at the very top, which is the cleanest area of the filter. Dirty water enters the bottom of these style filters.

 

[Zephyrah]

Once you put all your media into the canister, how often do you need to change it, or do you? I have an aquatop 3 stage canister. I have sponge on the bottom (that came with the filter), a bag full of carbon in the next tray and ceramic rings in the top tray. If carbon isn't really worth it, should I put bio balls in instead? Then just leave it????

 

[FreshyFresh]

Once you put all your media into the canister, how often do you need to change it, or do you? I have an aquatop 3 stage canister. I have sponge on the bottom (that came with the filter), a bag full of carbon in the next tray and ceramic rings in the top tray. If carbon isn't really worth it, should I put bio balls in instead? Then just leave it????

I would think how often you need to clean/replace the mechanical filtration would depend on how heavily stocked your tank is.

IMO, it doesn't sound like you've got enough mechanical filtration in your 3-stg canister. Any that I've seen have a minimum of a thin floss pad in the middle and top trays along with the chemical (carbon) and bio media (rings, balls) You want to try to keep your bio media as free from free-floating debris as possible.

 

[Zephyrah]

It has the floss pads in two of the baskets and the sponge in the bottom. The bag of charcoal and the ceramic rings are on top of the floss pads.

 

[FreshyFresh]

It has the floss pads in two of the baskets and the sponge in the bottom. The bag of charcoal and the ceramic rings are on top of the floss pads.

Right on. That's the correct standard setup. I saved one of the new floss pads and filled the whole center tray with polyester filter floss instead. I figure this way, I've got a new one to use as a template to cut new ones out if I need to.